Thanks for the tips. I volunteered my seat at the hour mark - she apreciated this and held my boarding pass as the flight was overbooked but there were a couple no shows so they didn't need me in the end.

It was pretty funny to witness the boarding as 75% of the flight was Elite Access - those who were not were visibly annoyed when they attempted to board thinking all rows had been called ("oh they have to make sure the elite flyers get on the plane").

I've only been VDBed 2 times and both were in the same day. It was a CO flight CLE-BWI (needed just me) and they ironically put me on a even more heavily booked CLE-DCA (needed 8 volunteers) - as a previous poster stated to suggest new options, they originally wanted me to stay overnight and I suggested they look at IAD or DCA, sure enough they found confirmed space. Scored a $300 and $400 voucher that day.